Gunfire and city contracts topics at Montgomery City Council meeting
The Montgomery City Council met Tuesday night at City Hall. The first thing on the city council’s agenda was to override Mayor Steven Reed’s veto of an ordinance that passed several weeks ago, which means all city contracts over $50,000 must be reviewed and approved by the city council. The mayor’s office thinks this will create an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, but some city council members believe it will add another layer of transparency to the city’s government. Another issue that came up at the meeting? Gunfire.
“We are scared here in the city. Enough is enough. When we heard that gunfire ring out on Saturday night, from Saturday at 8pm until after midnight and then again on Sunday night, it’s ridiculous,” said Angela Exford who is the Seth Johnson Neighborhood Association’s President.
Angela Exford said it sounded like a war zone this weekend as multiple people fired guns in the Seth Johnson Neighborhood. “Because at the end of the day when a bullet leaves the chamber, it has no address. You don’t know where it’s going to go and with that rapid fire, you know those are Glock switches, because they were firing off like they were having a Wang-Dang-Doodle of a time. We had them shooting in the back, then they’ve start shooting up in the front and the side, and on the other side, north, south, east, and west of our community. We are scared, so please do something about it,” said Exford.
Exford urged the city council not to repeal an ordinance that would require people carrying guns to show ID to law enforcement. The ordinance was carried over to the next meeting so changes could be made.
Another dramatic moment in the meeting came as an attorney for Charles Lee – a local man who owns “That’s My Dog” restaurant and the non-profit organization “That’s My Child” – stood up and asked council members to use their authority to resolve a lawsuit Lee has filed against Mayor Steven Reed.
“He’s been asked to perform different activities for the city, but since this defamation suit occurred about a year and a half ago, the mayor has simply placed Charles on the blacklist. He can’t do anything in the city anymore. He gets no approval from the city council and when he does, the mayor will simply veto that or tell Charles he can’t do anything for the city anymore,” said attorney David Sawyer.
“If it goes to trial, the mayor is sued in his individual capacity, but as the mayor he is an officer of the city, and if the jury comes back with any damages, those damages will have to be paid by the city,” said Sawyer. The lawsuit alleges Mayor Reed has repeatedly made defamatory statements about Lee after leaked audio of a conversation with the mayor. We reached out to Mayor Reed’s office to see if he wanted to respond but he declined to comment. A resolution that expressed the council’s intent to create a city personnel board was tabled until the next meeting.
